Caribou Legs delivers Peel protest letters to Yukon legislature

Gwich'in runner Brad Firth, aka Caribou Legs, delivered letters protesting the Yukon government's development plan for the Peel watershed to the Yukon premier Monday.

Firth carried the letters with him as he ran more than 1,200 kilometres from Inuvik to Whitehorse.

Elders and youth from communities including Mayo, Fort McPherson and Whitehorse joined him as he walked to the Yukon legislative assembly building.

"We don't want this mining to go ahead in the watershed," said Firth.

Ruth Massie, chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations said she is inspired by Firth's run, and that Yukon First Nations are ready for a court battle with the Yukon government over the Peel. She calls the government's Peel plan a total breach of land claim agreements.

The case will be heard starting July 7.

Firth will now fly to Vancouver to begin a run to Inuvik for the Peel watershed.